An Italian man has been accused of k!lling his wife before using her phone for months to pretend she was alive.

Francesca Deidda, 42, disappeared in May from the Italian town of San Sperate, in Cagliari, southern Sardinia and investigators believe that she was k!lled by her husband, 43-year-old Igor Sollai, local media reports.

After Deidda was last seen, messages were reportedly sent from her phone telling friends and family that she needed some time away due to a breakdown in her relationship. Still, she refused to speak to anyone on the phone.

The call centre she worked at also received her resignation in an email after she disappeared. 

Investigators allege that these messages and emails were written by Sollai after he killed his wife and hid her body, using them to conceal his crime and pretend Deidda was still alive. 

While the phone has not been found, ‘traces left by the suspect online’ led to his arrest, according to local media. 

Deidda was reported missing by her brother and a coworker on May 30.

When Sollai was asked by police why he didn’t report his wife missing, he said it was because her brother had already done so.

Police quickly ruled out suicide and voluntary separation and focused their investigation on Deidda’s relationship with her husband, who reportedly gave several conflicting statements.

Sollai claims that his wife wanted some time apart to ‘reflect’, according to local reports. 

Investigators say the evidence indicates that the couple had hit a rough patch in their relationship before Deidda disappeared. 

Despite nobody being found in the case, Sollai has been arrested on murder charges last week and remains in prison. 

He maintains his innocence and his lawyer, Carlo Demurtas, told local media: ‘There is no evidence that this was a homicide. 

‘And to date, we have no evidence to say that our client used his wife’s phone or sent the email.’

Demurtas had campaigned for Sollai to receive house arrest or to be released pending trial, but a judge ruled today that the truck driver will remain in custody. 

The couple’s house, where they had been living together since 2012, as well as their cars, has been seized by police.